"Foreign Land" is a song by Australian rock band,

Eskimo Joe Eskimo Joe are an Australian alternative rock band that was formed in 1997 by Stuart MacLeod, on lead guitar, Joel Quartermain, on drums and guitar, and Kavyen Temperley, on bass guitar and vocals, in East Fremantle, Western Australia, Austral ...

. It was released in April 2009 as the lead single from their fourth studio album '' Inshalla''. The song was the most added song on Australian radio in April 2009, and peaked at number 13 on the ARIA Charts and was certified gold. The single contains elements of traditional Turkish folk music from Adiyaman, Turkey. The song was written as a tribute to Australian actor

Heath Ledger Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian actor and music video director. After playing roles in several Australian television and film productions during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to ...

, who died in January 2008. The song placed second in the 2009

Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition The Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition is an annual competition that "acknowledges great songwriting whilst supporting and raising money for Nordoff-Robbins" and is coordinated by Albert Music and APRA AMCOS. The competition awards a ...

. At the

APRA Music Awards of 2010 The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2010 (generally known as APRA Music Awards) was the 28th annual ceremony by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) to award outstanding achievements in contemporary songwriti ...

, the song won Most Played Australian Work and Rock Work of the Year.

Background

The lyrics were borne from a poignant day in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

when an emotionally drained Temperley stepped out for a walk. The song has been used on TV shows such as ''

The World's Strictest Parents ''The World's Strictest Parents'' (or ''World's Strictest Parents'') is an international television franchise reality series developed by Twenty Twenty with its original broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Three. There are also many other i ...

'' and '' Sunday Night''.

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2009 singles 2009 songs APRA Award winners Eskimo Joe songs Song recordings produced by Gil Norton Commemoration songs Songs written by Joel Quartermain Songs written by Kavyen Temperley Songs written by Steve Parkin (musician) Songs written by Stuart MacLeod (musician) Warner Music Group singles